Guest column: Pretending to manage water resources

The judicial-legislative rancor surrounding “rural” water supplies — and the alleged source of a capital budget impasse — only points toward a limited aspect of what has become a pretentious water management problem.

The state Supreme Court’s damage is vested in three decisions, not one: Swinomish, Foster, and Hirst. Collectively, these court decisions effectively remove water resources management authority from the state Department of Ecology.

So, the current situation may be characterized as: the Supreme Court is pretending to be a water resources manager; the litigation plaintiffs are pretending to protect “senior” water rights, fish and wetlands; and the legislators are pretending to offer bills that fix the judicial ruling problem.

The one person who is not pretending to do anything surrounding this matter is Gov. Jay Inslee, who does not want to get near the water, and he has conveyed that message to the electorate.

But more to the point, the Supreme Court, the existing water right holders, the outraged environmental groups, and the involved tribes would all do well to stop pretending their problem is water supply, and focus squarely on the land-use question. Do you want to allow growth in what are now rural areas, or not — be honest about the real issue.

New residential (exempt) wells, with proper construction, will have diminutive impacts on existing water supplies, particularly given the conditional requirements being imposed by Ecology.

While the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association (CSRIA) has had its share of grief dealing with Ecology, it makes no sense to transfer decision-making for issuing new water rights — particularly exempt residential wells in rural areas — from Ecology to city/state planning departments, or to other non-state entities.

If Ecology is unable to legally or technically administer the state water code or prepare, with public input, appropriate regulations, then state citizens may as well seek water management expertise from downtown Seattle anarchists rather than from the state Supreme Court.

The CSRIA does not pretend to manage water supplies, our members do it. Last November, we offered new legislation that succinctly clarified that Ecology makes new water permit decisions and administers instream flow rules. How pretentious of us.

This story was originally published July 29, 2017 at 1:37 PM with the headline "Guest column: Pretending to manage water resources."